14.06.16
Knighthood for Crossrail chair shows importance of rail skills
The chair of Crossrail was given a knighthood in this weekend’s Queen’s Birthday Honours for his services to UK infrastructure, skills and employment.
Sir Terry Morgan, CBE, is also chair of the HS2 College Governing Body, and was appointed last year to develop a skills strategy to help create 30,000 transport apprenticeships.
Patrick McLoughlin MP, transport secretary, praised Sir Terry for his “extraordinary work”, adding: “By placing engineering skills development at the heart of Crossrail he has shown that delivering huge infrastructure projects on time and on budget and investing in skills go hand in hand.”
Another birthday honour was an OBE for Karen Boswell for her work as managing director of the East Coast Main Line company from 2009 to 2015, before it was returned to private ownership.
Boswell is now managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, where she is responsible for delivering contracts including the InterCity Express Programme.
“The UK railway is in the midst of a new golden age, driven by large-scale investment in infrastructure and services, and I am proud to be part of an industry as well as a business that is creating exciting new careers and opportunities with a workforce that is becoming more diverse and inclusive,” she said.
With rail passenger numbers at their highest ever, the honours for Sir Terry Morgan and Karen Boswell send a clear statement about the importance of transforming our rail infrastructure, and ensuring that we have the workforce needed to do it.
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